The Red Nix Bunch
by MissScorp
Summary: There are some relationships that allow you to be anything and say anything without fear or worry about hurting the other. One-shot. *Complete* T for insinuative dialogue.


**A/N:** Hello m'dears… I hope that the week has been a good one to you.

To all new followers, welcome! Please, if you like this story, click the follow/favorite button. Also, reviews are deeply cherished!

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"Hey, Raya?" Timothy Drake shouted as he walked into Wayne Manor. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the library!" he heard her call from upstairs. He jogged up the stairs (and heard Alfred issuing him a reprimand about running in the house in the back of his mind), headed into the East wing (going passed his old bedroom) before pausing in front of the entrance that led into the massive library (which was only dwarfed by the technological one accessible from the huge computer system in the cave below the mansion) that the house boasted. His gaze instantly sought out the petite figure he'd come to the Manor with the express purpose of talking her into attending an all-night black and white movie marathon at the downtown Cineplex with him. He spotted her curled up in one of the window benches with a large textbook (a Psychology one he saw with some amusement) balanced across her bent knees.

"Yanno," he said while leaning a shoulder against the doorjamb and studying her. "You're not really obligated to continue studying once they give you your degree."

Her eyes shifted from the book she was reading to him. Those green orbs glittered with the same amusement that had her lips twitching, curving. "Hey, I'm a Bat-Brat," she quipped. "And I know full well that even when a Bat-Brat graduates that they can never stop studying. Never know when Batman is gonna spring a Bat-quiz on ya. Something you know about for yourself, Red Blunder."

Tim snorted a laugh as he shoved away from the wall. He did know about that. As a recently graduated Bat-Brat who was still being gifted with triple the amount of Robin homework and a thousand times the amount of Bat-quizzes (all thanks to his two predecessors, of course), he knew full well to never stop studying.

"So, what are you researching?" he asked as he crossed towards her. He glanced down at the page, felt his eyebrows shoot up. "You're reading about spectral disorders?" He glanced at her, his curiosity evident. "Why? Which one of our playmates are you working up a profile for?"

"None of them, actually," she said, closing the book. "I have a patient who has Asperger's Syndrome. And," she added while pulling out the pen she'd stuck into the dark, springy curls she'd contained (his only one complaint about her at-home look) in a messy bun, "while I know the diagnostic criteria of the disorder, I'm not overly familiar with its specifics. Or in how to treat a patient who has the disorder."

"So, he said slowly. "You're researching the syndrome in order to tailor a program that will best help them cope with their disorder."

"Smart, sweet, and handsome," she teased as she took off the silver spectacles she only wore for reading. "Careful or you might just end up turning my head, Tim."

Tim snorted and swung a chair out from one of the tables (_how many hours had he spent at that table studying for a Robin exam_? he wondered), turned it and straddled it. "If only ya didn't have eyes for another costumed hero..."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "And if only ya weren't my little brother..."

He heaved a long, drawn out sigh. "Heard of being friend zoned," he muttered. "But little brother zoned? That's so not even right, Nix."

She snickered and tossed a balled up piece of paper at him. He swatted it away before giving her a cheeky grin. "You got baby brother zoned before you even knew what girls were."

"Excuse me?" he huffed indignantly. "And when exactly did I get regulated to this baby brother squad?"

"Night Crane turned this city into one huge research experiment you became mine, Tim." Her face softened as a sea of memories, most of them good for a change, filtered into her mind, across her face.

"I was _six_."

She nodded. "I know you were." Her eyes glinted mischievously for a second. "You were especially adorable at six."

He snorted. "I'm still adorable. And," he added even as she snickered, "you realize that we didn't actually start getting close until after I found you in Blüdhaven with Dick, right?"

"Well, it took a while before either of us figured out what the terms of our relationship were."

"C'mon," he tried in a cajoling voice. "Can't we _renegotiate_ the terms of our relationship? Add a few-" he paused, gave her a lopsided grin. "Perks and benefits?"

"Not unless ya wanna tangle with your more violent and tends-not-to-share-well-with-others-brother."

Tim made a face. "Still don't know why you're dating him," he mumbled. "Jason's not exactly the steady and stable type of boyfriend you need, Raya."

"He's a good man beneath all the baggage," she replied without heat or offense in her tone. He was her little brother and only showing his concern for her safety and well-being. "And he is trying to change. He's trying to be a better man."

"I know." He let out a sigh, frowned. "I know he is trying to change. And I've seen him with you. I see that he's different with you. And yes," he said before she could point it out. "I've seen him trying to curb the anger and more volatile parts of his personality." He looked at her and Raya read his concern in the depths of his eyes. His concern and something else, she realized. Something that was definitely darker and more predatory in nature. "But if he hurts you..."

"Stop," she commanded softly. "I don't want you fighting with Jason if things don't work out between us."

"Can't help it," he said, his chin notching at a defiant angle. "As you just so eloquently pointed out, you're my sister. And I won't let anybody-even a member of this family, hurt you."

"I know," she began, but Tim just cut her off.

"Don't think Dick hasn't told him about what'll happen if he lays another hand on you. Or that Bruce hasn't warned him about what the consequences will be if he breaks your heart. And," he stated in a firm voice, "just wait until Gordon gets his hands on him. I'm sure that he'll be told in no certain terms about what'll happen if he steps out of line."

Raya just heaved a sigh. "As if Damian kicking Jason's ass and ordering him to stay away from me wasn't bad enough..." she muttered.

Tim's head shot up at that particularly juicy piece of information. "_Damian_ beat up Jason?" Then, once she nodded, he said, "and he told him to stay the hell away from you?" He crowed a laugh. "Finally the kid does something I can applaud him for!"

She glowered at him. "Not funny."

He ignored that. "When he do it?" He tried to keep the note of glee out of his voice, he really did. He knew he'd failed when her glower turned even blacker. Still, he didn't apologize. _Why should he_? he thought with a note of bitterness creeping up to choke him. Jason had never apologized to him for either the beating he'd given him in Titan headquarters, or for his nearly killing him just a little over two years ago.

"It was right after Bruce's birthday bash," she huffed. "Damian followed Jason home and attacked him outside his apartment. Essentially told him to stay the hell away from me, or else."

"Oh, did he, now?" he crowed in delight. "Man, I wish I'da been there to see the little demon kick the crap outta him."

Raya threw another paper ball at him. "Could ya stop sounding so damned amused about Damian beating up Jason?" she groused. "It really isn't all that funny."

He batted the ball back at her with a grin. "You just aren't appreciating this from my perspective, Nix."

She unwound her lithe frame from the window bench and paced over to put the textbook back on its shelf. "Since I don't think you came here to annoy me by gloating about how Jason got beat up by Damian," she said. "Why don't you tell me about why you really came over to the Manor?"

"Well," Tim replied as he watched her. "I was hoping you might be free tonight for dinner and a movie."

She turned to look at him, the vestiges of a smile breaking through the vexation he saw to wreathe her face. "Baby brother zoned, remember?"

It was a way to break the tension, to return things to the fun and jovial manner they had been until they'd entered the discussion about her relationship with Jason Todd. Even though Tim meant every word he'd said (and was dying to mock the volatile hero for having his ass handed to him by an eleven-year-old), he saw that the conversation was bothering her. So he chose to drop the subject out of love and respect for her, and fixed her with a sad-eyed puppy dog look instead.

"That's totally not fair, Raya," he whined. "Let's negotiate some new terms here. Like, say, you have to wait for me after every patrol in a nurse's outfit."

She snorted a laugh. "And what am I getting out of this particular deal?" She folded her arms across her chest and cocked her head to the side. "Kinda sounds to me that you'd get the most out of this particular deal, Red Boy."

He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Put on the nurse's outfit and see what you'll get."

It was all a game, and they knew it. Both knew that if there was any heat, any _serious_ heat between them, that the year they'd spent working together, that they'd been alone would have been where that spark might have turned into a blaze. Still, Raya shook her head, said, "You've gotten incorrigible, I swear."

"Is that a no to the nurse idea then?" He sighed despondently. "You're killing me here, Nix. I mean, be reasonable, at least. The nurse outfit gives me something to look forward to when I come home all banged up."

"You get to look forward to me fussing and fuming about you coming home all banged up," she said lightly. "And to having me patch up those injuries while I'm bitching about them."

He shot her one of Dick's trademark leers. "But I'd have something worth looking at while you are fussing and fuming about me being all banged up."

She laughed. Not one of those snorted _haha, you are so funny_ sort of laughs either. No, this one was an honest and true laugh that had her eyes sparkling and her face glowing with her mirth. It was a rare (and precious) sight and something Tim, who infrequently managed to coax this side of her out, took great pleasure in seeing.

"Does this mean you're open to the idea? If so," he said in a sing-song voice, "I've got others..."

She sent him an amused, affectionate look before she said, "You're staying in the baby brother zone and that's that, Tim."

"Aw, man."

"Hey," she said with a grin. "Way more fun to raid the cookie jar with your sister than your girlfriend, anyway."

One brow slowly lifted and his eyes gleamed at the slippery insinuation he heard creep into her tone. "Is that your subtle way of telling me that Alfred has fresh baked cookies that we need to go and pilfer?"

"Me? No!" Her face was the very picture of innocence. "Why I'd _never_ suggest something so immature and childish as two adults donning bandana masks and cowboy hats in order to stage a midnight cookie heist."

"Of course you wouldn't," he said with a knowing smirk. "Wouldn't want it getting around just who one of the Manor's original infamous cookie bandits really is..."

"So..." she drawled slowly. "Does this mean the Red Nix Bunch is riding together or what?"

His lips twitched. "When did we get an outlaw name?"

"When Dick decided he was going to name himself and Damian as the Masked Birdie Duo. And," she said as she sauntered over and draped an arm comfortably around his shoulders, "told me that _they_ were the best cookie bandit gang in this here outfit."

He grinned. "Oh," he said as he stood up. "I'm so in now."

She rolled her eyes, smirked. "Ya wanna snatch the cookie jar right out from underneath Damian's nose, don't ya?"

"Uh-huh," he said with a devilish grin. "It'll drive the twerp nuts that I am better than him at something."

Raya sighed as she thought, _brothers_...

But she knew she sure as hell wouldn't give up her baby brother for anything. _Or anyone_, she thought silently as she exited the library with him.


End file.
